Thank you so much to all the Chamber Strings musicians who participated in the Presidential Awards ceremony on Wednesday by playing the National Anthem! I received many compliments on your performance, and the faculty, staff, and ROTC members who were involved in the ceremony were happy to add live music to their event. I am grateful for your participation, preparation, and the maturity you showed during the performance, and I am impressed with the speed and ease at which you added this new piece to your repertoire.
Monday's rehearsal began with a quick rehearsal of the Star Spangled Banner, moving to O Mio Babbino Caro, and ending with a bit of Be Boppin Bourree. First violinists should start to look at some of the fingerings that are marked in O Mio Babbino Caro as they shift into 3rd position. We use 3rd position in some of our lesson music and in the new Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 ("Second Movement").
Why do we shift? There are a couple reasons why shifting is a necessary skill for string players:
- To reach higher notes. As we shift "up" (closer to our bridge and further from our scroll), the notes get higher in pitch.
- To make fingerings more comfortable. In certain keys, notes are more easily achieved somewhere other than 1st position. Think about the biggest stretches you have to make in 1st position. When you move "up" on the fingerboard, the intervals (whole and half steps) get closer together, so we don't have to stretch as much.
- To achieve a desired tone. As a violinist, I love my E string. It is a bright, vibrant, loud, and exciting string. However, as an orchestral player, the E string just doesn't fit in. It can be too icy, too piercing, and just too different from the strings on the viola, cello, and bass. As orchestral players, our job is to blend: we should strive to create a similar sound, tone, timbre, and quality as the other members of our section and our orchestra. Shifting to achieve a desired tone is what we do when we stay on a particular string for a passage instead of changing to a brighter/darker, thinner/thicker string.
- To minimize string crossings (or eliminate them completely). When dealing with complicated or confusing bowings, sometimes it is easier for us to shift positions so as to keep our arm level and bowhair contact on the string the same. Shifting to avoid string crossings becomes a special concern when using ricochet or other advanced bowings.
